Joe Negron: Rick Scott and I ‘strongly aligned’ on goals for Florida universities

After meeting for about a half hour with Republican Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday, incoming Florida Senate president Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said he and the governor seem to be in general agreement about their future goals for Florida’s 12 public universities.

Enhancing the State University System — and adding $1 billion in funding to it over two years — is a priority for Negron as he’s poised to take over the Senate in November. Last week, Negron and a handful of other senators toured all of the universities to learn about each institution’s needs and goals.

“I updated the governor on some of the things that we learned during the university tour,” Negron told reporters after the meeting at the Florida Capitol. “I think there’s a strong alignment of policy and budget goals, with my commitment to universities.”